So, a guy walks into his psychiatrist’s office and says, “Doc, I’m so upset. I don’t know if I’m a wigwam or a teepee.”
“Relax,” the shrink says. “You’re too tense.”
Bada-bing, bada-boom!
Whether it’s stress from being multiple tents or just plain tense, our busy lives contain way too much of it. And I’ll bet since you subscribe to a heart valve surgery website, you already knew that. But did you know there’s good and bad stress?
Welcome to Education Mondays at cardio rehab. Last week’s topic was Stress Management. (This Monday’s was Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease. As if. I won’t preach to the choir on that subject.)
According to Christine, our group’s really young and smart exercise physiologist, “good” stress is short term, motivational, and enhances learning and brain function. Examples include deadlines, tests or giving a speech. Not sure if contemplating open-heart surgery falls into this category.
“Bad” stress is ongoing, never allows the body relief and can even cause weakened immune systems. Some examples: just about anything.
The hard truth is that managing stress also depends a lot on your personality type. Type A personalities are nearly twice as likely to get heart disease as Type B. Here are some ways to decrease stress in your life:
* Deep breathing. (It definitely works.)
* Chair yoga. (Look it up.)
* Acupuncture. (No needles, thanks.)
* Aromatherapy. (Now you’re talking.)
As a heavily medicated co-worker used to say, “Stressed is just desserts spelled backward!” (And flog is golf spelled backward, you nit.)
Like hot fudge sundaes, stress is OK in small amounts. But as it becomes chronic, you put your health at risk.
After living on this earth nearly six considerably stress-filled decades — just ask my healing heart —I’ve decided the best advice is to take time for yourself. After all, there’s only one of you. Now where’s my lavender oil?
(Copyright 2018)
